


The Blueberry and the Barbarian

by rock_gnome



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Flashbacks, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 20:56:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15276036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rock_gnome/pseuds/rock_gnome
Summary: Jester is eight years old the first time that she sneaks down to the tavern to hear her mother sing.





	The Blueberry and the Barbarian

Jester is eight years old the first time that she sneaks down to the tavern to hear her mother sing. 

She stands guard just inside the door to her room, waiting until she sees the cleaning lady pull her cart into a room down the hall and close the door behind her. It’s early enough in the evening that all of the patrons are still downstairs, so with another look down the hall in both directions, Jester tiptoes out of her room, her toes sinking into the plush carpet and muffling her footsteps. She crawls down the big, creaky steps, pausing on the landing to check that no one has spotted her, and then slowly edges forward to look over the banister, tall enough to just rest her chin on it. 

It’s earlier than she thought, and her mother hasn’t taken the stage yet, though Jester can see her standing nearby, speaking in low tones with one of the musicians. She is wearing the silver, satine-y gown that Jester helped to button her into earlier in the evening, with the small bells on the hem that Jester loves to play with. Jester takes a moment to scan the crowd, eyes wide at all the people who have come to hear her mother sing. 

The room is filled with people of all shapes and colors, tables packed with people from all over the Coast and beyond. Jester is especially delighted by one person covered head to toe in beautiful brown feathers. She thinks that it must be so wonderful to have wings. 

An announcer, with a booming, magically-enhanced voice, calls for the attention of the crowd. It was time, he said, for the highlight of the evening. Jester claps her hands with the rest of the room, confident she couldn’t be heard over the cheering. 

The Ruby of the Sea truly has a talent like no other. Jester is star struck, watching the magic her mother works on the crowd. Ballads, love songs, and bawdy pirate tunes, her mother’s voice flowed beautifully from one to the next. 

As the show comes to a close, she notices a man at a table near the front, pounding his big, blue fist on the table and grinning from ear to ear. She is mesmerized by the swirling, thick-lined black tattoos patterning his skin, which is more blue than anyone else she has ever seen before. The word Goliath comes to mind, from a story her mother read to her about brave sailors and terrible danger. Her mother always liked those sorts of stories. 

Her mother now makes her way over to him, carrying a drink, and smiling her most radiant smile. Jester hears the sound of approaching laughter from the bottom of the staircase and scampers back up to her room.

\---

Jester is feeling unusually brave when she sees the towering man in the foyer the next morning. 

“You’re blue like me!” 

“I am!” the stranger boomed. “I have a friend who looks like you, but she’s red. And taller.” 

“My mom says that I will be taller someday, too. Unless I do something silly, like insult a pixie. Then they’ll curse me so I stay little forever!”

They chatter away at each other until Jester is called to breakfast. As she pads down the hall to the dining room, she decides that she hopes the man comes back to see her mother again.


End file.
